Random Thoughts Part 5: Time to Split Again

[1oldman2]

Lets not forget about the two dollar bill fiasco while on the subject of "unwanted currency" there was a shortage of till slots for that one also. The practical test I think is would I want to carry twenty dollars in coins or paper in my pocket/wallet to the store. Most people seem to opt for the "plastic" currency if they have the choice in spite of getting hit for "convenience fees".
On the other hand if anyone has chocolate to barter I will gladly exchange my used snow tires and a spotted dog for whatever the market will bear in dark chocolate.

 

[Psinter]

Lets not forget about the two dollar bill fiasco...

On the other hand if anyone has chocolate to barter...

Okay, I had to use a dictionary:

fiasco - a thing that is a complete failure, especially in a ludicrous or humiliating way.

barter - exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money.

Good, now I can read it all again and understand.

 

[WWGD]

More fun: Outlook seems to be selecting random email messages to send to the "deleted" folder. Now I need to watch out the deleted folder every day to avoid having important things deleted.

 

[Psinter]

More fun: Outlook seems to be selecting random email messages to send to the "deleted" folder. Now I need to watch out the deleted folder every day to avoid having important things deleted.

It's happening to me as well. I saw a few messages in the junk that did not belong there. And some that did legitimately belong in the junk were in the inbox. What a hassle.

 

[WWGD]

It's happening to me as well. I saw a few messages in the junk that did not belong there. And some that did legitimately belong in the junk were in the inbox. What a hassle.

And it is difficult to just drop the account because that is the only contact info many people have about me. I guess in Microsoft marketing overwhelms engineering quality control.

 

[collinsmark]

So it turns out the transition from American dollar notes to dollar coins might not be that big of deal. (The transition would probably be a little bit beneficial, but only a little, and even that is arguable -- @zoobyshoe's argument may have merit if debated well.)

But what I'd really like to see is discontinuation of the American 1 cent penny. 'Nothing against President Lincoln (I love Lincoln), but he is already on the $5 bill. It's just that the penny is more trouble than it's worth (both literally and figuratively).

If there's any discomfort with carrying around a pocket full of change, a load of pennys fair worse. I can hardly even give them away.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Transitioning from dollar bills to dollar coins would save the American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in production costs each year. While the coins are a bit more costly to initially produce, they stay in circulation much longer. In the long run, coins are the better deal. [Edit: one might be able to make the argument that the difference is a wash though.]

Perhaps the problem is that every time dollar coins go into production, the paper bills keep being produced too; the coins never have a chance to catch on.

This explains it. By this logic, they have a good reason for continuing to make the coins, but, as you point out, that is only half the procedure, and so long as they don't take the paper dollar out of circulation, the coins are never going to catch on.

But what I'd really like to see is discontinuation of the American 1 cent penny.

It seems to me I read something recently (past six months) that indicated they were planning to do this; get rid of pennies altogether. Or, it could be I read that businesses were going to reprice everything in 5 cent increments to make them moot. At any rate, there is support for this idea.

 

[zoobyshoe]

So it pretty much has no value then, right? I mean, it is people the one that gives values to things, right? What about you zoobyshoe, would you accept them if I buy something from you with them? Let's see, I want chocolate, would you exchange that coin for chocolate?

They are actually worth a dollar. A store can't refuse to take one. However, when you proffer one to a clerk, you will be at risk of annoying them.

Personally, I am neutral toward chocolate. I'll eat it when it's there, but I don't keep a supply on hand or anything.

 

[Psinter]

And it is difficult to just drop the account because that is the only contact info many people have about me. I guess in Microsoft marketing overwhelms engineering quality control.

I can't drop it because someone important is going to write me there ... If you know what I mean ... Just kidding, it's not someone important at all.

Personally, I am neutral toward chocolate. I'll eat it when it's there, but I don't keep a supply on hand or anything.

A supply... Hmmmmm... That gives me an idea.

 

[WWGD]

Three weeks until Spring!

 

[1oldman2]

Three weeks until Spring!

This is the time of year I'm happy to live in the northern hemisphere.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Three weeks until Spring!

More importantly, it's seven days past Leap Day.

Current temperature at the South Pole: -67 ºF.

 

[1oldman2]

Current temperature at the South Pole: -67 ºF.

Thats what I mean about happy to be in this hemisphere this time of year.

 

[zoobyshoe]

A supply... Hmmmmm... That gives me an idea.

A horde. Whole cases. Stacked to the ceiling. A future without need or want. TOTAL SECURITY!

 

[Sophia]

What's your favourite chocolate? I like milk that is not too sweet (Milka is too sweet). Between 40-60% of cocoa is my ideal :-) that might classify as dark, I'm not sure.
I will eat those with fruit filling if someone offers, but I would never buy them myself because I like the original taste of chocolate.

 

[1oldman2]

What's your favourite chocolate? I like milk that is not too sweet (Milka is too sweet). Between 40-60% of cocoa is my ideal :-) that might classify as dark, I'm not sure.

Based on that I think you would love dark chocolate.

 

[Psinter]

A horde. Whole cases. Stacked to the ceiling. A future without need or want. TOTAL SECURITY!

Now we are talking.

What's your favourite chocolate?

If it's normal milk chocolate I can eat tons of it. If it is dark chocolate (which is awesome), I can eat only small amounts as I get staggered quickly by it.

 

[collinsmark]

Good god I just ran out of Tabasco sauce.

Tabasco sauce is the mainstay of my dietary intake. Thank goodness for the flexibility of Sriracha. That should hold me off until I make it to the market.

 

[WWGD]

More importantly, it's seven days past Leap Day.
.

Aka, 1453 days until next leap. Bad year for tables in 3NF: No dependency on Mon-keys in year of the Mon-key.

 

[Pepper Mint]

Aka, 1453 days until next leap. Bad year for tables in 3NF: No dependency on Mon-keys in year of the Mon-key.

I have always been fascinated by solar and lunar calendar calculation. Our ancestors clearly did an amazing job. Only looking at decimal numbers used to calculate phases of the Moon and Sun really hurts my head.

By the way, I have been lately falling for tricks to teach secondary school kids about ways to represent numbers and their relations with simple division and multiplication.
For example, 12 x 13 = 12 x (12+1)
If I knew 12^2=144 then I'd only need to compute 144+12 then such a yielded result was what I expected from 12 x 13.
Do you know any other ways to do this ? Some interesting classic Indian, Egyptian or Chinese methods you know of ?

 

[1oldman2]

By the way, I have been lately falling for tricks to teach secondary school kids about ways to represent numbers and their relations with simple division and multiplication.
For example, 12 x 13 = 12 x (12+1)
If I knew 12^2=144 then I'd only need to compute 144+12 then such a yielded result was what I expected from 12 x 13.
Do you know any other ways to do this ? Some interesting classic Indian, Egyptian or Chinese methods you know of ?

All I can say is I wish you were my teacher when I was in school, great approach

 

[Sophia]

I have always been fascinated by solar and lunar calendar calculation. Our ancestors clearly did an amazing job. Only looking at decimal numbers used to calculate phases of the Moon and Sun really hurts my head.

By the way, I have been lately falling for tricks to teach secondary school kids about ways to represent numbers and their relations with simple division and multiplication.
For example, 12 x 13 = 12 x (12+1)
If I knew 12^2=144 then I'd only need to compute 144+12 then such a yielded result was what I expected from 12 x 13.
Do you know any other ways to do this ? Some interesting classic Indian, Egyptian or Chinese methods you know of ?

Good luck with your teaching! Middle school teachers are heroes, especially the creative ones.

 

[Ibix]

I have always been fascinated by solar and lunar calendar calculation. Our ancestors clearly did an amazing job. Only looking at decimal numbers used to calculate phases of the Moon and Sun really hurts my head.

By the way, I have been lately falling for tricks to teach secondary school kids about ways to represent numbers and their relations with simple division and multiplication.
For example, 12 x 13 = 12 x (12+1)
If I knew 12^2=144 then I'd only need to compute 144+12 then such a yielded result was what I expected from 12 x 13.
Do you know any other ways to do this ? Some interesting classic Indian, Egyptian or Chinese methods you know of ?

You can extend this to writing both numbers as sums. So 12x13 = (10+2)x(10+3) = 100+20+30+6. Or you can decompose numbers into primes and look for parts you happen to know. For example if you play cards at all you probably know that two suits (13 cards each) are 26 cards. So write 12x13 = 6x2x13 = 6x26. Then notice that multiples if 25 are easy since the pattern repeats quickly and write 6x(25+1) = 150+6.

Edit: 3x4x13 = 3x52 = 3x (50+2) is probably even more obvious from cards.

 

[Psinter]

This is Translator vs my knowledge in English. What translator says:

Hello, Silicon Waffle friend: how are you doing? I hope you should be fine. Today I fed the birdies outside. They looked pretty good. How was it your day?

What I actually meant:

Hey there, Silicon Waffle. How are you? I hope you are fine. Today I went outside and fed the little birds. They looked so cute. How was your day?

Which one do you guys think wins?

EDIT: This was a test. I didn't feed any birds. And Silicon Waffle is because it was the first name that came to mind when testing.

 

[JorisL]

I just saw Quorn Cordon Bleu in the store.

Why didn't they use the opportunity to call it Quorndon Bleu :-(

So many opportunities not taken.

 

[Psinter]

This: I want to see this movie!

I love bunnies! Here is the trailer.

 

[BornCane]

John Von Neumann was the most brilliant mind of the 20th century and one of the greatest geniuses of all time, as a mathematician he ranks up there with Grothendieck and Hilbert for the 20th century

he has to be considered the last true polymath before the age of specialization

 

[zoobyshoe]

A polymath is a person who knows a lot about a lot of subjects. If your friend is not only a brilliant physics student but has also published a poetry collection and won prizes at political debates, you can describe her as a polymath.

You can think of a polymath as a classic "Renaissance man." Imagine Leonardo da Vinci, for example, who was not only an amazing artist, but also an engineer, inventor, mathematician, and much more. When a person's knowledge covers many different areas, he or she is a polymath. The Greek word for it is polymathes, "having learned much," with poly meaning "much," and manthanein meaning "learn."

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/polymath

 

[Sophia]

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/polymath

Thanks for the vocab. We call such person a "polyhistor" and it seems quite a foreign word to me so I might have used it somewhere assuming it was the same in English. Now I'll remember the proper term :-)

 

[WWGD]

I just saw Quorn Cordon Bleu in the store.

Why didn't they use the opportunity to call it Quorndon Bleu :-(

So many opportunities not taken.

It would go pretty good with a Quorn Dog.